Around Australia
Rowing

with Christa, Fritz and
boat Forever Young

 Rowing Lake Tyers on a beautiful calm day

© Copyright 2007-2009

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Victoria East Gippsland
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The journey started in late 2006 when my husband and I decided we would like to row together in a double scull and do some touring with it. Never would we have anticipated at that time, that this would be the start of a long adventurous journey on which we were having the time of our life while getting fit and staying healthy at the same time.
First we tried to buy a used boat but although they were cheap, they were not suitable for our purpose either because they were too old and therefore prone to break down, too heavy to carry by 2 people and/or were too long to transport on our car while towing a caravan. Also the old boats don't have enough buoyancy so they can sink when flooded.

Our Ford Falcon Station Wagon with Caravan and split boat December 2008

In the end we decided to order a Training Tub Double Scull with a split section from a reputable boats builder in Geelong. They must have had a really good laugh, as this type of boat is hardly build any more and probably never ever has been built with a split section before and never will be again.

Our car a Ford Station Wagon with split boat and caravan, December 2008
For our purpose it is ideal. It is sturdy, moves well in the water and also has lots of storage space and can carry a third person being the cox . The boat has little extras added by the boats builder which we really appreciate: lamb wool where the feet go (really nice in winter), a water bottle holder under each seat and handles to carry the boat. The boat is 8 m long and splits in two sections: 5.5m and 2.5m. It weighs ca 35kg which we are just able to manage to carry and lift without help.
We picked up the boat in July 2007 and transported the boat to Lake Tyers straight away, where we have a little holiday shack.
We built the cradle for the boat ourselves from aluminium held together by lots of bolts. It carries the oars and the boat on top of the car's roof racks. We first thought we would have to have it professionally welded together, but the bolts work just fine. We also had to get a different car, our Ford Territory was too high for us to lift the boat up without using steps, which seemed too dangerous, and our other car a Subaru Outback wasn't able to tow the caravan. A lot of thought has gone into this and the Ford Falcon Station Wagon was the most suitable car for the purpose, so we sold the Territory and bought a Falcon Station Wagon instead, both 3 years old we were hardly out of pocket. We since have done a couple of trips and only had some minor problems backing the caravan on uneven grounds or going into parking lots, petrol stations, as the car has very low ground clearance and we have touched the ground with the hitch or the exhaust a couple of times. We encountered no problems though when driving on normal roads.

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Webmaster& Author: Christa Riedacher cfried@tpg.com.au

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Wondered why the the quality of the pictures is average on our site? There are two reasons, for one we reduced the file size of the pictures so the website can be quickly loaded (less pixels, less quality) and two we are not willing to take an expensive camera on our tours as the risk of loosing the camera while rowing is quite high.

The content of this website is the personal opinion of the author and her husband and no objective information. We're providing you with information/links of businesses/tourist information and we're not receiving any payment out of this. Tour descriptions reflect conditions at the time as experienced by the above rowers. Depending on weather and rainfall some of these tours can become very dangerous. Please plan your own trips careful considering weather and water levels. Hazards can appear overnight in rivers and lakes. Talk to local experienced people and let someone know where you're going and when to expect you back. Take enough food, water and gear. Ask yourself if you're fit enough for the tour planned? According to Marine Safety it is the law to wear life jackets in Australia in rowing boats unless being exempt in a supervised club/competition environment (conditions apply). Although we try to give you good information on this website, we cannot be held responsible for its contents in any form.